This invention relates to an electronic counter circuit for use in a tape recorder etc.
Recently, an electronic counter circuit has been used in a tape recorder to count pulses generated according to the rotation of a reel shaft so as to display a run of a tape on a display element such as a liquid crystal. Since an electronic counter circuit has to be driven by a stabilized voltage, a power supply voltage of a tape recorder must be applied to the electronic counter through a voltage stabilizing circuit. The electronic counter circuit may be formed of a CMOS to make a power consumption smaller. The voltage stabilizing circuit consumes more electrical power as compared with the electronic counter circuit. Where the voltage stabilizing circuit for the electronic counter is connected directly to a power supply, the voltage stabilizing circuit wastefully dissipates more electrical power even during the inoperative time of the tape recorder. Normally, the electronic counter circuit and voltage stabilizing circuit are connected to the power supply through a switch in interlock with a stop button of operation buttons of the tape recorder. This switch is opened during the inoperative time of the tape recorder and closed during other time periods. By doing this, the voltage stabilizing circuit can be electrically interrupted during the inoperative time of the tape recorder, thereby perventing wasting of electrical power. Even where temporary stopping is effected so as to change from a playback to a rewind mode, the voltage stabilizing circuit is electrically interruped and the contents of the counter is reset. For this reason, the subsequent count display is erroneously made and it becomes impossible to display an absolute amount of run of a tape.